


I ruggiti del Leone

by SaintSaens



Category: Trust (TV 2018)
Genre: Angst, Animal Death, Blood and Violence, Drug Use, F/M, Gen, Gun Violence, Homophobia, Hopeful Ending, Hunters & Hunting, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Internalized Homophobia, M/M, Physical Abuse, Pre-Canon, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:53:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27556402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaintSaens/pseuds/SaintSaens
Summary: 5 times Leo lets the lion out when he is dealing with Primo and the one time he won't. He won't.Because he is better than that.
Relationships: Leonardo & Primo Nizzuto, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Primo Nizzuto & Regina, Primo Nizzuto & Salvatore
Comments: 12
Kudos: 54





	I ruggiti del Leone

**Author's Note:**

> Basically : Leonardo learning how to handle himself around Primo. It's difficult. And Primo is a magnet for Troubles. 
> 
> I'm really sorry this won't end with Leo/Primo because I don't know anything about romance and I won't even try. It would be awful. So you're welcome. But I guess if you squint really really intensely, you could maybe see it? 
> 
> Important Warning : in this story, Leo is a basic Italian man born in a background village of far away Calabria. Which he almost never leaves. He's good with money + criminal business but he doesn't know two shits about how to handle kids before Primo. And I'm not even going to talk about what to do when someone says they're gay. That's like - Italy. I don't know what to say other than Italy. It's a work in progress for him. So be prepared: homophobia is a thing with Leo. He is working on it.

**I**

  
"What is wrong with you kid!" 

The first time Leonardo screams at Primo, the first time he feels a growl build in his throat, the boy is not even five years old. Leo isn't any better, with all of his sixteen years of age, but he is older, and that's all that matters when he is the one who has caught Primo before he fell head first into the ravine. 

The kid had been reaching for a bird's nest, eyes intent and wide on the prize, uncaring of what was happening around. It's only sheer luck that Leo, bored to death by the never ending hunt he was supposedly taking part in, had looked to the side when he had. 

Or the child would have fallen down to never come back. 

"I could have done it!" Primo struggles against his unrelenting grip, his eyes locked on the nest away from him. Leonardo doesn't hear him, his heartbeat growing and growing at the possibility of a literal baby dying a few steps behind him. Salvatore's nephew, at this.

"Like hell you could!" He shakes him, because he doesn't know what he would do otherwise. The kid could have died. " _Cazzo_!" 

"But it's true!" Primo snaps back "Look!" he points at the nest, then at the tree, a few paces down, fallen with the last storm certainly. It makes a bridge, not wide enough for a man but good enough for a boy of Primo's size. Leonardo hadn't even noticed. 

The kid would have jumped on it, he realizes, if he had started slipping down. He knew what he was doing.

"Oh" and Leonardo is the one suddenly feeling stupid. 

He doesn't have time to say anything, because they've made enough noise to scare away the wolves.   
And let everyone know something had happened at the back of the hunt. Fuck. 

It's Primo's father who reaches the both of them first. Leonardo lets the kid go suddenly, taking a step back as Ludovico closes in.   
Salvatore's brother had never liked him, and Leo never knew how the man would react to whatever he was saying. So he doesn't say anything, and let what needs to happen happen. He isn't the boy's father. He shouldn't care so much. 

Primo straightens, looking up at Ludovico, his eyes shining, his face set. And Leo stands aside as Ludovico slaps Primo hard enough to send the kid stumbling back. 

"You're useless. Go back to the house and wait. Outside. I'll deal with you when I come back."

Leonardo shouldn't care so much, but he finds he does, when his brain goes and does for him the math: they had come by car, a twenty minutes drive from the edge of the village. The hunt won't be over for another 3 hours. And it goes further than that, as the wind blows on his face: the weather is cold. It's about to rain. They have three cars, waiting up there. Three cars, and Primo, all of five years old and a dead glare, will wait outside of his own home, as soon as he gets there.

Leonardo shouldn't care so much, but he finds he does, when Primo looks down, not a word leaving his mouth, and he rushes back up the path, swift and silent, and Ludovico thumps Leo on the back with a conniving smile that sends shivers down his spine. 

"That kid, eh Leo? You shouldn't have bothered screaming at him. Nothing gets through that skull of his." He jokes, shaking Leonardo a bit "He will be the death of me, honestly!" Ludovico goes on,laughing.

Leonardo looks back to where Primo has disappeared, dread spreading in his limbs. He has learned one thing: he doesn't like it, when people look down on that kid.

(and he is not surprised, some years later, when he realizes that Ludovico had been right. Primo had been the death of him... even if no one can prove it. Salvatore included.)

**II**

  
Primo is thirteen when his father dies.  
No one talks about that. 

Salvatore doesn't pretend to care more than he should for the boy. He eyes him like one eyes a feral dog. 

For the benefit of the show, he hugs him, even kisses him on the head when they bury the body (or what's left of it) and then he walks on. And Primo is left behind. 

Salvatore's dismissal, because what can it be other than a dismissal, is not questioned. The Don has acted upon his brother's death. Now all he has left is a lanky child with eyes too big and not a single smile for his lips. The kid can take care of himself, it's implied. 

And surprisingly he does.   
Leonardo feels like laughing when Regina tells Salvatore about him. She and the others, they keep an eye out, because they have mothers' feelings and god knows this boy would need one, but they have yet to help him out. Primo isn't stupid, no matter what his father said about him. He does what needs doing, doesn't complain and goes through stubbornly. 

It's almost like he wants to shove it in his uncle's face, that he doesn't need him. That he can survive, and he will surpass them all, in some time. 

And so Primo goes through the winter with a riffle on his back, haunting the mountains and drifting around.   
It was too good to last. 

\- - - 

If it hadn't been for him, Leo doesn't know what would have happened to the kid. 

He's walking the goats back to the house when he passes through a rough patch by the mountain's side. Some stones have crumbled down. The goats don't care, jumping over it and leaving him at the back, panting and fighting his way over precariously balanced stones. Leo is cursing his heart out, until there is a sharp bleat, and he realizes the goats are rushing back, a wave that threatens to overwhelm him. 

He looks down. The first goats of the pack are running away from the river. And that's when Leo sees the carcass of a wolf.   
Sat a few steps away to the dead animal is Primo.

Leo screams before he knows it. 

"Primo! Primo, _cazzo_ , Primo!" 

The kid doesn't react, it doesn't help Leonardo's heart at all, and so he hurries down, stumbling along the path, pushing the goats aside. He takes his riffle in his hand as he gets closer, in case something else might come for some blood. 

"Primo! _cazzo_ , Primo! Primo? Oi!" 

When he is in reach, the kid hears him. He turns on his seat. His face is pale, and he is holding his riffle in his shaking hands. There's blood there too. Leonardo feels his guts lurch. 

"Primo, where are you hurt? Primo, oi, I need you to answer!" 

Leonardo is falling on his knees by the kid, trying to take note of any injuries. 

"Primo!" 

The boy blinks at him. 

"I'm -" he starts saying, stuttering, and that's when Leonardo notices that the boy is drenched from the cold water of the river. "I killed her" he croaks at last, swallowing heavily under Leonardo's eyes. 

Like he won't let himself cry.

"What on earth happened?" Leonardo feels drained, only working with the fear that the boy might be hurt. Or in hypothermia. Or worse. He keeps checking him for injuries.

"I - I killed her" 

Leonardo finally takes the riffle from Primo's hands. He shakes his own coat off, and puts it around the boy, trying not to linger on the traces of blood. Regina will chew him a new one later on. But that's not his current concern. 

"You did right." he tries "The wolf would have killed you otherwise." 

Primo nods, his eyes not leaving the animal. 

"She wouldn't have. I got too close-" he hiccups.

"Yes, actually, it would-" Leonardo doesn't want to hear about animals being nice to little kids. He already has his ears filled when it's the Romeo's daughter who comes to tell him about the goats, he won't have that from Primo. 

"She was protecting her cubs" Primo cuts him. And Leonardo blinks at him. He hasn't seen anything beside the wolf. He turns around to check again. But there's no movement, no sound, nothing.

That's when he notices the little bodies, stuffed near the wolf's belly, darkened by blood.

"Primo" he breathes out "what did you do?" 

Primo sniffles. And when Leonardo glances back at him, the kid's eyes are too empty. 

"Uncle said - if I ever see a wolf, I should kill it. But he never said anything about the babies. So I thought, if I don't kill them too, they might grow up, and then they'll come back to the village, and then-" 

And Leonardo doesn't think, he slaps Primo instinctively. 

He looks at that kid, who has been told to shoot a fucking wolf, instead of leaving it in peace and telling adults about it; who has taken it upon himself to kill the cubs, because it was the only logic he could make up. Leonardo feels like he will throw up. 

"Never" Leonardo's voice wavers "Never, do you hear me Primo, take on a wolf when you're alone. Do you hear me?"

Primo looks betrayed for a moment, before he snaps back. "Salvatore said-"

"I don't care what Salvatore said!" Leonardo shouts. He feels like shaking the kid, or hugging him. He doesn't know what's worse, considering everything. Salvatore wanted that kid dead, that's the only thought he could take out of his muddled brain. Telling a kid to shoot a wolf by himself. 

"You don't tell me what to do! You're no one!" Primo snarls "And I killed her!" 

"And Look where that got you! _Cazzo_!" 

Leonardo breathes and puts his head in his hands.

"You -" he mutters "You can't do it again. Listen, you can't do it again. I don't care you did it now. You can't. Because next time, you might miss, your riffle might misfire, or you won't have any bullets left and then what? You'll be dead! That's what. Primo, do you want to die?" he roars out, unable to contain himself. 

Primo blinks at him.

"I killed them" he mumbles "I did it. On my own." 

"And you're proud of that?" Leo snaps finally, feeling lost in front of that kid, bloody and shivering.   
  
"Where's the pride in that?" Primo cries back "it's easy to take a life! There's nothing easier than that!"

Leonardo feels his lungs give in.

"That's it" he grabs Primo, who fights back, because of course he won't let himself be helped out. "You're coming with me" Leo snaps, uncaring for the struggle Primo puts as he heaves him up into his arms.

"I'm fine!"

And it sounds so much like a tantrum, Leonardo doesn't think twice. 

"Like Hell you are! You just killed four wolves! On your own! You're not fine! Look at you!" Leo screams, staring at the kid and holding onto him for dear life. "I don't care how tough you think you are, I'm not leaving you alone like that. Say _ciao_ to your past wanderings around, you're coming with me from now on. Starting from tonight. You will not be left to your own devices. That's the end of it." 

"It's the first time-" the boy tries but Leonardo can't spare the time.

"And it'll be the only time, if I have anything to say about that!" Leo inhales. "Listen. It's the only time I'll be saying this, Primo. You're not alone. Get that into your skull. You're not alone."

\- - - 

Of course, when they reach the house, it's worse than it looks like. Leo says so. But it doesn't prevent Regina from yelling at Leonardo, or cursing Salvatore's name under her breath, or snapping at Primo when the boy tries to get away from her ministrations. 

Of course, it doesn't prevent Primo from leaving their house to go back to his own, as soon as the first light touches the hills. Regina rants and rants and rants the entire day and Leonardo goes to talk with Salvatore. 

Of course, it doesn't prevent Salvatore from laughing when he hears about Primo's abilities, boasting of them to anyone coming in. It certainly doesn't prevent him from looking at Leonardo with a small eye and saying _leave the boy alone, Leo, he knows what he is doing_. 

Of course, it doesn't prevent Leonardo from making sure that whenever Primo goes out again, he happens to be around. So that he is not so much alone anymore in the wild. 

And when they see another wolf, far away from the village, Leonardo teaches Primo to watch the life that is under his eyes, to try and understand it, make the best out of it, instead of thinking instantly of what danger it could bring. He isn't naive enough to think it will erase any of the past lessons, but he can only hope it gives him something else to think about, the next time he sees a wolf on his own. 

(he could never fathom that it's what Primo took with him, later in life, when he would watch and listen to the people around him, to try and understand them. And get the better out of it.)

**III**

  
"What did you do now" Leonardo growls, as he picks Primo up and pushes him further inside the house. 

Primo is sixteen that year. And Leonardo can't believe he came all this way, only to have to clean the kid's mess again. They were supposed to meet at Romeo's tonight, for the oldest's, Alfonso, engagement. But it looks like they won't be going anywhere. Not when the kid is slumped in his corridor, barely responding to him, and he looks ready to faint at a moment's notice.

"'s nothing" Leo hears from a scratchy voice, and he winces as he gets a hold on the kid. That tone, it's the one Primo had the last time he had caught a bad flu. It's the one that means he has puked his guts out, and hasn't done anything else since. The one that tries to tell him, I can handle it. 

Leonardo swears before dumping Primo on a chair by the kitchen table. 

"Try again. What did you do?" 

The place isn't neat, but it's clean enough that Leonardo doesn't have to look around long before he gets his hand on a glass. He finds the water pitcher and fills it up. Primo has yet to answer him when he sets the glass in front of him. 

"nothing, it's nothing" Primo insists, a hand trying and falling to hold up his head. 

"Bullshit" Leonardo says, pushing him to the back of the chair and putting a hand to Primo's forehead. He is sweating, his face is clammy, and his eyes unfocused. He looks sick. But he wasn't, this morning. "You can't even look me in the eye. Don't lie."

But Primo struggles against him, and keeps his mouth closed. 

Leonardo growls.   
He takes Primo's face in his hand and grips tight. Gives him a good reason not to answer back.

"Don't lie to me Primo. Don't you dare lie to me. Now spill." 

The kid blinks at him with his owlish gaze, and Leonardo feels old then, because the kid blinks and swallows. And he knows the signs, he just doesn't want to see them on Primo, not now.

"What did you do?" Leonardo asks, feeling fear building up inside his guts. 

"Heroin" Primo whispers "I think."

"Hero- You think?" Leonardo bellows at Primo, letting go of him harshly to walk around the table. If he did not, he would have slammed him in the wall. "You think? You don't even know! What the fuck, Primo! You should know better than that! You know better than that! And Heroin. Heroin. Fucking heroin." 

Primo has his head back in his hands, as if the noises are paining him. Good, Leonardo thinks bitterly. Good. We'll see if you'll take that shit up next time. 

But he closes his eyes and inhales deeply. There's no point doing this here and now, when the kid is sick. No point. He will learn his lesson through the trials of getting the shit out of his system. That'll have to do for now. 

"How - who gave that to you?" He asks, voice tight, because he needs to know who would be stupid enough to give that drug to Salvatore's nephew and not expect troubles as a result. When Primo doesn't reply, he grabs his shoulder and shakes him, until he gets a rise out of him. "Primo, who -?" 

"Giuliano" Primo mutters trying to bat his hands away "Giuliano Morabito."

"Giulia-Of fucking course." Leonardo feels rage, bubbling inside him, and coldness as it spreads from his heart to his mind. "I'm going to fucking kill that bastard" he seethes "And then I'm coming back here, and I'll fucking kill you. You hear me, Primo? I'll fucking kill you! You paid for your uncle's drug, didn't you? How stupid are you? You know how it's handled. You know what we do with it-for fuck sake Primo look at me when I'm talking!"Leonardo's fist hits the table, startling Primo and sending the glass spilling away. Primo's eyes are locked on the hand in front of him, and he has started trembling faintly. 

"When did you get it?" Leonardo tries to keep his voice contained. 

Primo's jaw is working, silent for a moment. He croaks in the end. "This morning, at the shop." 

"I'm killing Giuliano. And then I'm getting his father to lay on him another." Leonardo mutters. In the shop. Straight. How stupid can kids be nowadays.

Leonardo takes another breath. 

"Why?" 

Primo stills at that. He doesn't blink anymore, he doesn't breathe almost. His eyes are still locked on Leonardo's hand. 

"Primo. I asked you a question." 

Primo shivers, but it's not that he will be sicker than he already is, it's almost as if he's tightening his armor around him. His shoulders hunch, his jaw sets and his eyes turn murderous on Leo's hand. 

"Shut it. As if you cared." 

It's as good as a slap to Leonardo. 

His tone is cold, from a kid who no matter what you say to him takes things in stride and is not fazed by anything happening around. Primo is good like that. But here he is cold. Like he can't hide his feelings anymore, and it's too much for him to handle. 

"Primo -"

"I said shut it!" Primo stands up suddenly, his hands tightening into fists. His eyes are wild, and his muscles are shaking.

Leonardo looks at him, not moving.

"I asked you a question." He repeats instead, calmly. 

"Don't strain yourself" Primo sneers, and makes to move around him, but Leonardo is not the one currently coming down a heroin high, and he just has to put up his arm to catch Primo before he crashes to the ground. 

"I told you not to lie to me, Primo."Leonardo mutters "I'll have from you the courtesy of believing that when I ask you a question, it's because I care about the answer. No lie. I swear." He pushes him back into the chair, holding him up.

"No lie, kid." He brings Primo's hair out of his eyes. He's a mess, it could almost make Leo laugh. 

"Why?" Leonardo presses again instead. 

Primo shrugs, not looking him in the eye.

Leonardo sighs. "Alright. We'll keep it at that. For now." 

\- - - 

Three hours later, and Primo's heartbeat keeps on faltering, he keeps on shivering. Leonardo's doesn't like it. Against Primo's wishes, he gets the doctor. Primo likes him even less when he receives an injection. But Leonardo doesn't care about that. He didn't ask. 

Leonardo is showing the doctor out when the man turns to him.

"What happened then?" The doctor looks at Leonardo with a knowing gaze.   
He knows, and he doesn't care what Primo took, he cares what he should tell. 

Leonardo stares.

"Hypothermia. He thought he could catch that wolf that's been prowling around." 

"Another wolf?" The doctor snickers. Everyone knows about the dead wolf. The many dead wolves of Primo. 

Leonardo doesn't comment, he isn't an idiot.He knows how unlikely Primo's current state is when there is hypothermia. He knows Giuliano is most likely to brag around, having given Primo a dose. Between the doctor and himself though, they can weight in the balance compared to a shitty little kid who wants to make a stupid name for himself. Hypothermia is not plausible, Leo knows, but it's the only thing that might get Salvatore off the boy's back and won't get much talked around. 

So Leonardo takes a sip of his coffee and waits.

The doctor huffs. "Just make sure he doesn't try to get that _wolf_ again." 

When Leonardo gets back to Primo's bedroom, the kid is awake. He is leaning against the head of his bed. 

"I thought" he rasps out "you said no lie." 

Leonardo stares at him. So he had heard. 

"You don't lie to me, Primo. I don't lie to you. No lie. The end." 

Primo huffs "The doc" he coughs again "he knows."

"So?" 

Leonardo wants to believe it's his glare that turned Primo to silence. He conveniently ignores the smirk on the kid's lips, as he goes back to sleep and Leo stays watching over him, for the night being. What wouldn't he do, for this kid.

**IV**

This lesson, Leonardo knows it before he even acts on it : he would kill for the kid. No doubts about it. 

They are digging a hole up the mountains. It's not the first grave Leo works on, and he knows it won't be the last, but it doesn't get easier with time. They've been at it for the past half hour, but between the cold and the wind, it's difficult to feel your grip on the shovel, and Leonardo curses. 

When he stops to take a breath, he notices Primo is hunched over his own shovel. If it weren't for the fog coming out from his mouth in puffs, Leo would have thought him asleep. He wouldn't put it past him. 

"Oi, Primo!" Leonardo snaps "I had to kill the guy. The least you can do is dig the hole to put him in!" 

Primo doesn't reply, barely snarks back. That's when Leonardo realizes something's not right. 

"Primo" he warns "you better start digging or I'll throw you in there myself." 

That gets him a chuckle, slightly hysterical. Leo is used to Primo by now, but sometimes, sometimes, even he doesn't know what to do. It sounds like this is one of those times. He lets go of his shovel, cursing the cold, and walks to Primo. 

"I swear, you better have a good reason for-" 

Leonardo doesn't finish his sentence. He stops, gaping, as Primo holds a bloody hand in front of him, as if he only just noticed. Only just noticed he was bleeding. 

"The fuck happened to you?" Leonardo shouts, pushing Primo to stand straight but sending instead the both of them tumbling to the ground. Primo grits his teeth, and doesn't make a sound. He barely breathes. Leonardo's eyes widen, when he gets his hand beneath Primo's coat, and catches onto a warmth that has no right to be there. The sluggish liquid coating his fingers is just confirmation of what he already knows. 

"Fuck, _cazzo_ , what happened?"

Primo shrugs. He legitimately shrugs. 

"Got hurt" 

Leonardo blinks at him. "No shit! You got hurt! Tell me something I don't know!"

Primo closes his eyes, breathing slowly. 

"It wasn't that bad"

"Of course it wasn't! That's why we're here now, lying on the ground for the fun of it!" His hands are shaking, fuck it all, but his hands are shaking.

"Leo-"

"Don't! Don't you dare!" Leo snarls at him. "I swear to God if that doesn't kill you, I just might. Why didn't you say anything?" 

"There wasn't time-"

"There was- there is always time! When it's your life on the line, there's always time! _Cazzo_ , what did I ever do to you?" Leonardo cries out.

"You're too concerned" Primo chokes out.

"Someone has to be! Since clearly, you aren't! You're dying!"

"It's a graze -"

"It's a bullet wound for fuck sake! I know you like to think you're invincible but you're not! You're not! Can't you see that?" 

"It's fine-"

Leo slaps him. He isn't proud, but that's ingrained reflexes by now. 

The dark gaze he finds himself under doesn't surpass the fear building in his guts. 

"Don't you dare say it's fine" he screeches out "I haven't made sure you stayed alive to see your twenties just for you to die so close to them now. I won't let you die, you hear me _cazzo_? I won't let you die. You can't die, Primo. You can't die." 

Leo heaves at the bare idea of Primo dying. He doesn't care, that he just slapped him, that the kid could kill him easily. Not when Primo is the one bleeding out. Not when he could die. 

"We're going to the village. Pray that the doc will be there." 

"The Sici-"

"He's dead! He's already dead! An hour more in the cold won't change that! You're not dead. Yet. So I'm handling you first. The body can rot under the sun for all I care!"

That gets Primo to sit up, catching Leo by the collar of his shirt. When Leo finds himself face to face with Primo, he swallows. His eyes are too clear for someone supposedly dying.

"He's got a bullet of ours in him, that body. If he rots, he will attract animals. I'm not going to jail just because you couldn't be bothered putting him in the ground first." Primo seethes.

"You won't be going to jail if you're dead!" Leo snaps back, pushing Primo down to lie back. "I'm getting the car. You better be able to walk when I bring it around because I'm not dragging your ass up that hill." 

When Primo chuckles again, Leo takes that as a sign to rush. He's not one to be pushed around, manhandled like that. It might be Leo chewing him out but it's still Primo. And Leo is no Salvatore. Primo should have snapped back. He shouldn't have let him get away with any of it. 

That gets Leo rushing. 

\- - - 

Primo is sleeping on his kitchen table, and his own hands are full of blood, shaking and full of blood. When Regina comes back in, she doesn't comment on their state. She sighs, and tells him to put a blanket on Primo before he shivers from blood loss. 

Then she sits beside him. 

She's an angel, in Leo's mind. Sent from God, for the heathens they are.

So he tells her everything, confessing from the transaction turned sour to the bullets fired and the grave dug in the hill still waiting for a body to be deposited in it. And he tells her what he knows about himself, now. He knew he would kill for the kid if necessary. But he also learned something : he is not equipped to see him dying. 

(He doesn't get away with that confession. Regina presses him to harass Primo when the kid leaves for Rome. He can't say he minds. Although Primo certainly does.)

**V**

Leonardo is still shaking when he gets home. He is still shaking, and his jaw is locked, and he knows he looks empty, because good god he feels it. 

It's only when he is locked inside, finally, that he allows himself to break down. He is heaving, leaning against his door, and he feels like crying, but he only heaves. He heaves because he can still breathe. It seems like a blessing. 

Fuck it, Primo. Fuck it, Leo thinks. 

He can't believe it.

Leo won't lie to himself, not about that. He would die for the kid. No questions asked. But fuck if he dies for something as stupid as what had happened back there in Naples. Fuck it, Primo. _Cazzo_.

\- - - 

"Be real, it's not serious. This one looks like one of those fags, do you think he sucks cocks in his pastime?"

"What?" Primo had snorted "Interested?" 

Leo had never felt a colder shiver run up his spine as he watched the eyes narrow on the Neapolitan's face, a few steps away from them. 

Because of course, Primo never goes where you expect him to, where everyone else would. Of course Primo wouldn't take that as an insult. Of course, he would spin it around, and offer it right back. He couldn't just snap, he couldn't just man up and fight. No, he had to offer it right back.

With a smile. 

There is a moment when no one reacts, when the only noise reaching them is the gurgle of the river beneath the balcony and the birds chirping around in the trees. Then it's a matter of seconds. 

Before Leo even knows it, he is standing in front of Primo, his breath cut and his eyes unblinking. Locked on the gun, aimed at his forehead. 

What should have been Primo's. 

He barely remembers his hand reaching behind him, catching the kid's. He feels the trembling arm, fighting to pull it up, and without a doubt pull up too his gun. Ready to fire. 

There is a commotion, coming from inside the house. 

"I think" Leo announces loudly, looking at the gun "you should put that away, and take a walk. Before something truly regrettable happens." He doesn't feel half as important as he sounds. But he hopes it works. He can hear men walking closer, sees Salvatore and the other Don in his periphery.

The Don snaps something at his man. For another moment, no one moves, and it takes another shout for the man to back down. He shoves his gun under his vest and spits at Leo's feet.

"We'll put that to cultural differences" Leo says, voice barely wavering. He doesn't glance behind him, because he can feel Primo's anger taking shape at his back, strong enough to taint the air in iron and fury. _Cazzo_ , that kid.

The man is pushed away by one of his colleagues who looks frustrated, and there are words exchanged but finally, finally, Leo can breathe, because there are no gun in his or Primo's face anymore. He looks at the sky.

When Salvatore reaches them, Leo has yet to let go of Primo's arm. Instead, he grips on tighter. 

"What the fuck was that?" the man growls at Leo first, before looking at Primo. And Leo looks down at him.

"Maybe you should ask our friend other there!" he snaps before he can think any better of it. He closes his eyes "I'm sorry, Don Salvato', it's-" 

"Let's say it's the gun you had in your face, Leonardo." Salvatore whispers back,and Leo nods. Salvatore looks at Primo. "There better be a good reason for that mess. We have yet to shake it on the deal. And I won't have you fucking it up for me." he warns.

Primo stays silent. And Leo doesn't want to know what he must look like now. He scratches his throat. 

"An insult, they said something, and -" he doesn't finish his thought, letting it speak for itself. No need to go into details.

Primo scoffs. " He said-"

"It doesn't matter what he said _cazzo_!" Leo snarls at him beneath his breath, finally turning to look him in the eye. "They insulted us. That's the end of it." He grips tighter on the hand, feeling the bones give slightly beneath his fingers. 

Primo looks ready to snarl back, his jaw is working but thankfully for Leo, he stays silent. He squeezes his hand again, for good measure. 

Salvatore looks at them with a dark eye. "They insulted us then. Fine. It better be the only time it gets to that." 

Leo nods sharply, and Primo takes the moment to shake his grip and put his gun back to his side. He doesn't look up after that, focused on taking a cigarette out. 

"Don't joke about this" Leo warns him once Salvatore had left to smooth things over and use that fuck-up to his advantage."Don't ever joke about this." 

Primo only throws away his cigarette and leaves Leo standing there. 

\- - - 

On the way back to Calabria, Leo hadn't been able to keep it to himself. He wasn't proud, but he had bellowed at Primo with everything he had, hitting the dashboard with his palm many times. He had shouted at the kid, he had talked by and large about why, why, you could never do that. Why you could never say things like that. He had screamed himself raw for half the drive, before falling silent in the passenger seat. 

And intently not looking at Primo for the rest of it. 

"What if he had taken me up on it?" Primo says once they are parked in front of Leo's house. 

Leo looks at him. He looks at that kid, who dares to look unimpressed, bored even, who just implied - 

Leo gets up and slams the door in his face. That's not even worth a breath. The kid would never learn. He doesn't know why he tried. Ludovico was right about that.

**\+ I**

  
They are at the back of a wooden cabin with the goats around them and the forest darkening slowly. It's been less than a week since the Neapolitan debacle. That's when Primo tells him. 

Leonardo's ears ring.

"Say it" Primo seethes at him, his hands tightening at Leo's collar "Say it, you coward, say it say it say it-"

Leonardo has gripped Primo's forearms.

They had been having such a nice evening, why did it have to go down?

_And if I had? Primo had said, and if I had sucked him?_

_What then? I could fuck him, he had said, seriously, too seriously to Leo's liking. I could love him, like you love Regina._

_What if I had already. What if I did._

_What then?_

There are thoughts slashing through Leonardo's mind, disgust and coldness storming his guts. That idiot of a Neapolitan was right. He thinks of betrayal, after everything he has done for this kid, this thankless stupid kid who throws one last offense at him. He thinks of all the times he has defended him to Salvatore, to their family. He thinks of all the times he has caught Primo's eyes watching him. All of the times, he has put his honor, his life on the line. All for this. This thankless kid with no pride, who will do anything, even fuck- 

Before his mind can go any further, Leonardo reacts. He pushes Primo away from him because he needs space, he needs to breathe. He needs to get away from him. He can't let that fag-

"Just say it already!" Primo screams.

Leonardo's ears ring. But -

But. 

Beneath this primal revulsion coming up his throat at the bare thought-

Instincts be damned.

Because in front of him is the gloat-full resignation in Primo's eyes, as the kid stumbles back. It shakes him to his core. The _I knew it_ that locks on his face and doesn't leave space for honesty anymore. _I knew it, even you, even you, you wouldn't go that far. You wouldn't love me for what I am, deep down. Even you, I cannot trust. I have to lie to. Even you._

"Say it"

Leonardo bolts. He grabs Primo, even as a sneer comes on Primo's lips, his muscles coiling, but Leo won't let him get away. He is older, he knows better, and that kid, for better or worse, is sort of his. 

(He will try to forget the fear that flickered on Primo's face as Leo took hold of him)

Leonardo bolts and he enfolds him in his arms, clutching tight as the kid fights back. They fall against the wall, but Leo won't let go.  
Every punch he welcomes, and Primo has always been a vicious one, every muffled scream in his chest he accepts. 

It's as much Primo's pain as his own shame that gets expelled. 

He won't tell him to stop, he won't chide him for letting it all out. How could he, when he's the source of these painful feelings. 

"Primo" he whispers instead, in his ear, only for him to hear, as soon as he is ready "Primo, it's alright." 

He gets a fist to the side for his trouble. It cuts his breath, but he doesn't let go. He tightens his grip around Primo.

"It's alright, Primo, listen to me -" 

"Don't say that!" Primo cuts back, with a tight voice "Don't lie! Don't say that! You said you would never lie!" 

Leonardo clutches tight. 

It's not alright, it's not. This, whatever it is, it's not normal, it's not what he has been taught. What Primo should have been taught. It's not in the Bible, or any other code of law that rules them all. But fuck it, at this rate, Leonardo should also have kept Regina sequestered in their house, and he should tell her to shut up half the time she talks back, but he won't because that's who she is, that's who he loves. 

And Primo is who he is, and he is who he loves. He loves him. That Leonardo can admit, as bitter as it feels now with everything. 

"You're right, it's not" Leonardo tries to keep his voice strong, even as Primo tenses in his arms. He swallows. "It's not alright, Primo, because you could die. You could die, and I don't know if I could handle that."

"Don't lie. You would kill me yourself, if you had the guts. You should."

It's a heartbroken whisper, and Leonardo has to bite his lips in order to keep his own scream in. Fuck that kid, fuck it all. He sees better than most. He knows surely. He has heard surely, what people around here think of people like him. Leonardo had never thought twice about it, when he had nodded along during these conversations. It had never mattered, because no one around here was concerned. They didn't have that around. Or if they did, well no one knew and if they did, it could be handled quickly, no one the wiser for it. He had nodded along. Under Primo's watchful eyes.

Primo is right. It sends a shiver through Leo's spine, but damn the kid is right.

  
Leo would have participated in killing him, because at the very least he wouldn't have blinked if someone else had taken it upon themselves to deal with him. Were it anyone other than Primo that was to be erased, corrected, he would have felt sadness for the life lost, but he would have gone on. 

That's the thing that triggers Leonardo's fear.   
It's Primo.

It's Primo here in his arms, telling him things no one should ever hear about. It's Primo, with pain in his heart, when he has already suffered enough. Leo closes his eyes.

Primo shouldn't feel that pain, not when he is talking about love, no matter what kind. No matter who receives it. No matter what he does with it. Leonardo shouldn't feel disgusted. He should be amazed, he should be crying tears of joy. Because it's Primo, talking about love, as strange as it is, and that's already more than Leonardo could have hoped for. He has no right to judge the kid. Not with everything he's been through.

So Leonardo chokes and he won't prove him right. Not this time. No matter what his soul roars from the deepness of his being, no matter what his thoughts first threw at him. He won't prove him right. He won't follow his instinct. 

Primo can love. That's something.

"I'm not a saint, Primo" he tries to joke "I'm not a saint, I've got my faults. But I will not be the one to end you, no matter what you tell me, no matter what you do. I don't care what you get up to, I'll always be there for you, I don't care -" 

Primo struggles suddenly, but Leo holds on, tightening his arms and praying God to have some help here and now. He needs to believe it, for Primo. 

"I don't care, Primo. I don't care." he recites, maybe to convince him as much as he is trying to convince himself right now.

"Stop saying that!"

Leonardo's eyes fly open. He grabs Primo's shoulders and shakes him. 

"Stop talking and listen to me, goddammit!" He hurls. He needs to believe it, because if he doesn't, he doesn't want to know what that makes of him. A man ready to kill, kill someone he considers family, someone he has seen grow, he has helped along. It makes him a man like Ludovico. A man Like Salvatore. A joke. He won't be that. He just won't. It's never too late. It's never over. He can still be there for Primo. Even if he has fucked up. 

"Stop talking. Because I dont' care" Leo snarls "I don't care what you do, who you do it with. I don't care, Primo. But I am scared! I won't lie about this!"

Primo looks caught out, but Leonardo won't stop until he has given everything out. 

"I'm scared! For you! You could die! That's what would happen Primo, if anyone caught up with you! You could die! Do you understand that? Even in Rome. More so in Rome. Do you-" 

And Primo struggles again with his face closed and Leonardo doesn't know what to do anymore. 

"Stop- fucking - fighting me, you stupid kid!" he screams. "I'm scared for you! Put that in your head once and for all. I don't care, Primo. I love you but I'm scared for you!" 

That's what does it, finally. Primo's body stops moving, his eyes wide with withheld tears, before he hunches over and Leonardo catches him in his arms again. He doesn't have any qualms crying himself. 

"I love you, Primo. Nothing, nothing, could stop that-"

"Don't lie" he hears Primo croak.

"I love you" he repeats, his voice strengthening "I might not understand it, but I love you. Don't die, Primo. Just, don't die."

"Don't lie"

"Jesus, kid" Leo laughs, despair taking hold of his guts "give me time. Just give me some time. It never crossed my mind. I never thought- I need time, to make sense of it. But I love you, that's not changing. I'm not lying. I love you, kid. Primo, never doubt it. Don't you dare doubt it." 

"Don't lie. It disgusts you, I disgust you, don't lie-"Primo chokes out, and god the kid won't let him live this one down. Leonardo feels his lips curling, because intimately, it does disgust him deep down just the thought of it, whatever this is, but he is not an animal, his instincts are not him. He will learn, for Primo. He will grow. 

He won't let the kid go. 

Leonardo breathes deeply, his hand cradling Primo's head against his shoulder, listening to his heartbeat and the breath that puffs by his neck. 

"Primo. There's only one thing that matters to me. It's that you stay safe." he admits to the night "It's the only thing I care about. You stay safe, you hear me? You can go and do whatever you want in the city, I don't have a say in any of this, I shouldn't have a say in any of this, but you stay safe. That's the only thing I'm asking. That you stay safe. That you come to me, if you're in trouble. You do that, ok? Promise, me. Primo. I need you to promise me this." 

"I disgust you" Primo snarls, but Leonardo growls out a curse, cutting him quickly. He would gouge that disgust out of himself with his two hands if he only could, but that's not how it works. Even with Primo. It's a long run. Leo will learn. 

"Promise me." he repeats, unyielding.

"Sure" it's a conceded answer.

"Promise it to me, Primo.Say it." 

"Fuck off, I said ok. I promise. Let me go now!" Primo struggles again in reply. 

"No" Leonardo keeps a good hold on him "I'll never let you go Primo. You should know better than that by now." 

(there's no lesson to learn. Leonardo loves the kid. Nothing new under the sun.)

**Author's Note:**

> *shrugs*
> 
> Notes on the texts: (apart from the fact that Leo really needs a Ted Talk on handling Primo? and really needs to stop saying Cazzo so much?)
> 
> Title meaning: The roars of the Lion (because it's Leonardo screaming through and through this fic. I am not sorry.)
> 
> 1 & 2) Can we all agree Primo killed his father? We agree he killed his father. Good on you kiddo. 
> 
> 3) Yes. Primo had a childhood crush on the boy getting married. He was dealing with it, thank you Leo. 
> 
> +1) Primo doesn't know how to bring up sensitive subjects. I have a feeling he would just go all the way and dump it on people and watch them fumble with it. Then show his teeth when someone tried to help him.
> 
> Also. ALSO: Ofc Regina knew about Primo. Ofc Leonardo tells her, as soon as they are back to the village, because he's a distressed mess and he wants to do what's best but he can't think two things by himself - that's his level of stress- and of course she just looks at him point blank "Madre mio. You're luky I'm around." she says and he's like "looooove what am i supposed to do now?" and she's like "did you tell him you were there for him?" "yes" "that you love him no matter what?" "yes" "good. Now unlock the front door, I don't want him breaking in again" because she's that BAMF and she takes everything in stride and is up with everything her husband or his stray child do (he is only a stray because he thinks so - she already has the adoption paper signed btw). 
> 
> Thank you for reading! I hope you liked it (or that at least it didn't make you grumpy <3)


End file.
